After engineering, she got admission to the Texas A&M University in the United States to do her Masters, but after a few months, she moved to Louisiana Tech to continue her Masters in Bio Medical Engineering there.
It was when she was in the US that she started asking herself about why she should hide her real identity. As she was away from her people, she could express herself little more freely. In fact, she started calling her family and began telling each of them about her gender preference. "I told them I felt like a woman and I didn't want to marry a woman, etc. Their reaction was very emotional; they cried. They thought as I was away from the family, I was confused and homesick. But I was getting clearer in my mind."
She started dressing in a more feminine way while in the university as there was no negative reaction from any of her classmates. So, she continued to be bolder in experimenting. But Rose says, the American society is "very homophobic, very trans-phobic and very hypocritical." Though there is a lot of "acceptance openly, deep inside, they do not [accept it]. A lot of crimes are committed against transgenders, homosexuals, etc."
When she first went to the US, she wanted to settle down there but after finishing her Masters in 2004, Rose decided to come back to India.
"I didn't want to live in luxury when people like me were suffering in India. Transgenders in India do not even get the basic rights. So, I decided to come back and do something for the community."
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